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Tuesday, 30 August 2011

I am soo sorry for not writing over the past week but it's been go go go at Home Restyler towers recently, well when I say towers, a more fitting description might actually be a slightly swamped with piles of magazines, brochures and swatches, two-desked home office that my husband has chosen to cover in HIS paperwork...

So just to make sure you that you know that I'm not lying, here's what I've been up to;

Today, I want to share with my love of Autumn Winter 2011 Marks & Spencer catalogue, showing a teaser of the Conran exclusive design for M&S range as well as some beautiful furniture and home accessories, yes you guessed it, in yellow, that are due to hit the shelves by early September.

Launching in early September, the preview collection offers a taster of the Conran products, featuring furniture, textiles and accessories before the launch of a much larger collection for Spring Summer 2012 which will include a much wider range of furniture and upholstery, bedlinen, dinnerware and more. Home Restyler can't wait!

Little Lacey lamp, French Bedroom Company
A stunningly designed table lamp. The shade is made from laser-cut metal in a pretty lace design which casts beautiful shadows across the room when lit. A really gorgeous piece of lighting.
Matching floor lamp available. H44.5 x W13.5cm. Also available in black. £140.

Yellow Silk wallpaper panel, Garrendenny Lane Interiors
Wallpaper panels by Scandinavian Surface. Use the wall panels singly or in multiples to create a delineated space or a feature wall such as this headboard. They can be mixed and matched to suit your taste.
Featured here is Yellow Silk, Magpie and Woodland Each panel piece is 52 cm wide and 270 cm high.
They can be trimmed to fit if necessary and the wallpaper paste is included with the panel. £70 each

Rosaline Sofa, Darlings of Chelsea
This new, original quirky piece with contrasting buttons can be upholstered in a designer fabric of your choice (shown here in citrine with funky bright blue buttons).
Named after one of Shakespeare’s most famous heroines, The Rosaline is hand made in London, made from hard wood frames, has fibre filled interiors and a choice of luxury fabrics ensuring a sumptuously comfortable sit.
Prices from £1,999 for the 3 seater – dependent on fabric chosen. 168cm W x 84H x 76D

Thursday, 18 August 2011

The rainy day today got me thinking about kids. Kids in the summer holidays. Rainy holidays.
"Mum, I'm soooo bored."
"When's it going to stop raining?"
"What are we going to do today?"...

I don't have children of school age but I do have a toddler who keeps me on my toes, so today I'd like to share with you two delightful things I have come across recently that really are unique.

One is the quirkiest soft toy I have EVER seen, the concept of which is so utterly brilliant I think it should be a big hit.

The other is a totally brilliant idea for a cot that is so simple yet ingenious.

StuffYourDoodle

This is ingenious, really it is.

Basically you send your child's doodle to Lucy Moose, who then uses recycled fabrics to make a stuffed figure of that exact design. Simple, unique and brilliant.

What a great gift for creative kids, their own stuffed toy designed by themselves! For more info check out www.stuffyourdoodles.com

Rockid

For all of you who have had children, you will grasp why this is such a great concept immediately. Remember those nights when you desperately wanted to get your little one off to sleep and sat there gently rocking them in your arms? This is a great solution for heavy arms / wanting to rock yourself to sleep / wanting to exit the room once the baby is asleep but without waking them when you put them down...A rocking chair and cradle in one.

While softly swinging the rocking chair and reading a book or singing a lullaby, the baby falls asleep. When the baby outgrows the cradle, it is possible to reconstruct the rockid into a rocking chair. The chair was created by two designers Nathan Wierink and Tineke Beunders in Eindhoven, Netherlands (www.ontwerpduo.nl) and is just a concept at the moment but how cool would this be if it does ever make it to the shelf!

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Despite it being summer, well in the loosest of terms, take the rubbish weather so far this week as your example, I am getting so excited about what lies ahead this autumn / winter. For those of you who know me, I am one of the festives seasons' biggest fans and adore all things wood-y/forest-y, Alps-y, candles, cosy, cinnamon-y...are you getting the picture?! So the anticipation of two of this autumn / winter's biggest interiors trends being 'Scandinavian Living' and 'Texture' (think wool, velvet, tweed, crochet...) fills me with glee!

With our weather being less predictable, and following such cold temperatures & snow last winter, we want to make sure we are well equipped in the home, making it snug, cosy and comforting. 'Scandinavian Living' is largely based on the climate (brutal winters and months of darkness) with designs that are inspired by things that have a sense of lightness about them.Bring this together with 'Texture' and think natural materials, pale wood - white pine, ash, beech and birch, patterned textiles, geometric prints, knitted objects, fur throws…

For ferm LIVING this aumtum / winter is all about "raw nature; the perfect backdrop for our universe of strong graphic lines and honest materials like wood, wool, organic cotton, leather, cork and paper. All these amazing materials twisted into straight forward and geometric shapes create our new and well crafted collection. Welcome to the woods and to our version of autumn/winter 2011".

The third trend is for deep jewel tone colours. At the autumn/winter 2011 Milan Fashion Week Gucci’s collection included jewelled colours, provocative, sheer evening gowns, and extravagant fox jackets dyed in shades of purple, emerald, turquoise, orange and fuschia. Following on from this, one of 2011's biggest decorating trend colours is amethyst purple.

One way to introduce amethyst into your interior scheme is to use grey as the neutral backdrop and add this warm, luxuriant and stimulating colour to lift the mood and create a sophisticated, relaxing look. Then add acid yellow accents i.e. cushions, rug and vases to give the scheme some drama and wow factor.

Ok, so I'm not ready to ditch my flop-flops quite yet, but I just wanted to share with you my moment of excitement about all of the scandi, textural and amethyst coloured soft furnishings and home accessories that are waiting to be admired later this year (maybe in just a month or so!?.

Thursday, 11 August 2011

My first installment about creating your own interior style on a shoestring was all about reusing and recycling. Part two is a continuation of the theme but focusing on doorknobs.

Whether it is repainting a whole object or simply placing it in a new position within your home, changing a small element of a piece of furniture can totally transform it's look. Today I would like to share with you some tips about changing doorknobs and handles to breathe new life into old things.

Keep your eyes open for different and unusual knobs when you are out and about. Even if you don 't have a specific piece of furniture in mind if you see some you like they will be worth buying for future restyles. You could even make your own like these stone doorknobs

If you like the shape of a doorknob but not it's colour, why not repaint it. Either coat it with a new paint colour or create a crackled paint effect for an aged look. Or simply buy plain unlaquered wooden doorknobs and get colour creative

Tuesday, 9 August 2011

This Autumn/Winter Scandi style is going to be a big thing. So when I was working on my latest furniture restyle, I thought I'd make-over this beautiful little footstool to give it a fresh, light, Scandi feel but with more of a summery edge. The stool has a lovely floral carving all the way around the edge, which I sanded down after painting to let it show through.

Tiny footstool - before

Scandi stool after: coastal relaxing

Scandi stool after: the detail

I painted the stool in Annie Sloan Old White, waxed it and sanded it down to give it a worn, distressed look and covered the seat in a gorgeous patterned heavy upholstery fabric and edged it in a mid-blue braid.

I have to say I really love this stool and would very much like to keep it for myself, but it doesn't go with the style of my house - boo hoo! The owner of the wonderful seaside shed where I shot the images of the stool is also rather partial to it!

Thursday, 4 August 2011

This Ercol stool was drab, saggy and stained until I rescued it recently and decided to give it a new lease of life with splashes of duck egg blue and silver tones. It has been a joy to bring back to life. I have painted the legs with Annie Sloan Old White and Duck Egg Blue paint colours, waxed it and slightly distressed it to give it a lovely shabby look. The seat has been upholstered with a gorgeous velvety duck egg grey fabric (fire retardant I might add!) and finished off with a silver braided trim. I think it's so cute and it's calling out for a lovely new home for someone to sit their weary bottom on!
If you're interested in buying it, please get in touch with me via www.homerestyler.co.uk

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Today's before and after is a distressed side-table with beautiful curved legs that a client asked me to re-paint for her to use in a guest bedroom that she has designated for when her grand-daughter comes to stay. We filled the room with beautiful fairy lights, jelly printed bedding, pink & purple hanging hearts, a lilac tub chair, a very cuddly teddy bear and a painting of my client's own favourite bear, which she painted herself.

The room will also be used as a single guest room so needed to be flexible in terms of style, which is why we kept the curtains and bed-spread non-girly, using silky golds and lilacs and we also have another set of bedding, which is less jellyish and more grown-up (personally I love the jellies!).

The side-table was an old mahogany table, previously used as a telephone table, which I painted in Annie Sloan Old White. I gave the table two coats of paint and wax and sanded down all od the edges to give it a more shabby, romantic look.